Jordan Hallam reacts to his winning goal on Saturday that gave the team their first three points of the season following a challenging year with injuries.
The attacking midfielder scored the only goal of the game midway through the first-half against Carlisle United, with the 21-year-old talking to iFollow Iron after the match: “I thought it was a bit of a scrappy game. I think we have played better in recent weeks and not got the results we deserved. We will take the win every day of the week, even if you’re not playing well.”
Hallam has had a difficult 18-months dealing with injuries, with his 2019-20 campaign never really getting started. Speaking about his experiences, he commented: “It’s been a long road to recovery with all the injuries, but I’m just glad to be back and helping the team.
“At the start of the year I had an injury during pre-season which put me backwards in terms of fitness and playing catch up, and then I had a bad ankle injury.
“Ever since then it was always playing catch up with muscular injuries, so it is quite frustrating thinking I’ve got back to full fitness and then something else going. I've been strengthening where I need to and hopefully I can stay fit and keep performing.
“It was very tough. You start to doubt yourself on whether you're going to get back to where you need to be, but I'm just glad I feel back to normal now.”
Talking about the game overall, he thought that they didn’t perform their best despite the win, he explained: “I thought we dug in, but we didn’t play great today. A scrappy game, but I thought we defended really well. Hopefully we can keep improving.
“It's always vital scoring the first goal. In the first two games, we've conceded first and pushed on the back foot chasing the game. If you score first, especially in this league, it always gives you a good advantage.”
The Iron’s next game is on Tuesday against Manchester City Under-21’s in the EFL Trophy group stages. Hallam explained that no matter what competition they are playing in, they want to win as many games as possible: “If you put a run of wins together it gives you momentum and then we can take that into the league.”
After playing a full 90 minutes in a long time, Hallam said he felt sore afterwards, saying: “I was cramped up towards the end in my calves, but I'm just happy to get three points.
“My aim is to play as many minutes as I can and help the team however I can whether that be scoring goals or providing goals.
“I feel like I did do well, but the main focus is getting those three points, it’s not just about me.”
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